Join us on the journey

A video of my conversation with Jen Hofmann, creator of the Americans of Conscience checklist.

​Every journey teaches us something, even if it’s only that pig’s ears really are as rubbery and tasteless as you’d imagine, or that the best time to check for bed bugs is when you arrive at night, not when you get up the next morning. For Jen Hofmann, a writer and social media teacher in Oregon, her 40th birthday inspired a host of what’s-life-all-about questions that led her to a pilgrimage on the famous Camino de Santiago across northern Spain.

What wisdom did she find on the journey?

​"The entire route has yellow arrows that help guide you,” Jen told me. “In my own life, I’ve learned to identify what those arrows look like and feel like inside of me.” One critical turning point came after the 2016 election. “I had about two weeks of lying in bed eating Oreos,” she recalls ruefully. “I was seriously depressed and disillusioned." Then one day she got up, got dressed, and went to a meeting of local Resisters.The group was struggling to make their way through the morass of social media to discover reliable information and figure out how to take meaningful action. Jen volunteered to research, verify, and post a checklist of useful actions for the forty people in the group. By January subscribers had grown to 7,000, and after the Women’s March, it went viral. Today, her Americans of Conscience checklist has 70,000 subscribers.I asked Jen if she could look the president in the eye and say one thing to him, what would it be? Jen (who is clearly a far more spiritually evolved person than I am) replied, “It would probably be to heal. I’m aware that behind his egregious actions and massive ego is a deeply wounded man. I wish for him healing in whatever it is that plagues him.” And I say amen to that!​

This video is Episode 3 of my ongoing series Women of the American Resistance. You can view the complete series on YouTube, this blog, and American Resistance Sevilla; many episodes appear on Americans Resisting Overseas and other social media sites. Feel free to repost this video or link to this content. My goal is to tell the world about these remarkable American women and the work they're doing to help fix the mess we're in.​

“The great value of travel is the opportunity it offers you to pry open your hometown blinders and broaden your perspective. And when we implement that world view as citizens of our great nation, we make travel a political act."Rick Steves

​Feeling powerless isn’t in Tanya Halkyard’s DNA. She grew up hearing stories about her great-great-great-great aunt, Susan B. Anthony, who blazed a trail through 19th century American politics, championing the abolition of slavery, votes for women, and other causes considered radical, if not outright insane, at the time. But Tanya never imagined, when she moved to Rome in 2011 to start a language school, that she would find herself on the front lines fighting for causes – such as gender and racial equality — that apparently haven’t progressed as much as we’d thought since Susan B. Anthony’s time.

“After November’s election, I mourned for a day.” Tanya told me. “And the next day, I got to work.”

​“Living abroad does give me a different perspective on American politics,” Tanya says, speaking of her international news sources, conversations with people from all over the world, and opportunities to watch European political dramas unfold over time. She’s able to “see what’s important globally. Now I think that having a president who can represent the country in a diplomatic way is really important. And making enemies abroad is not a good idea. Pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord was really about international relations; [the president] was saying, ‘I don’t want to work with the international community.’ Part of being an American living in Italy is trusting that Italy and America are going to be friends. When my president makes an enemy, it changes the dialog about who I am and how people are going to perceive me.”

In these turbulent times, Tanya is steadfast in her confidence that the Resistance is working. “We are far away from home,” her website says. “But we cannot give in to feeling powerless. Now more than ever we need to get involved and stand up for our beliefs. We must work together to make change. If you're wondering what you can do, join us, and we will figure it out together.”

This video is Episode 2 of my ongoing series Women of the American Resistance. You can view the complete series on YouTube, this blog, and American Resistance Sevilla; many episodes appear on Americans Resisting Overseas and other social media sites. Feel free to repost this video or link to this content. My goal is to tell the world about these remarkable American women and the work they're doing to help fix the mess we're in.

The other day I was all wound up telling Rich about my latest Resistance project, and when my eloquence, passion, and ability to blather on was finally exhausted and I stopped talking, he said, “You know, I almost feel sorry for the poor bastards you’re going up against.”

I like to think conversations like that are happening at breakfast tables all around the world. And in fact, they probably are. There are millions of American women who are standing up to tell the world, “We are not going to be silent. We are not going away. In fact, we are just getting started.”

Groups belonging to Indivisible, just one of the active Resistance organizations

I got to thinking about all the women who, like me, are finding themselves in the unexpected position of standing on the front lines of opposition to the most powerful political machine on the planet. Are we nuts? Is all this activity working? Can we win?I’ve decided to find out.I’m going to spend the summer talking with the women who are driving the American Resistance: leaders, behind-the-scene workers, lifelong political activists, first-time protesters, Pussyhat knitters, people with disabilities doing online activism, neighbors, friends, and women who are finding creative ways to mount effective protest in some of the most remote corners of the planet. I’ll do interviews — in person when possible, but more often recorded online — and make short videos to post on YouTube. They'll be reposted on Americans Resisting Overseas, this blog, American Resistance Sevilla, and other sites I'll be adding as the project progresses.

Do you know a Resister doing interesting work? I would love to share her story with the world. Send me a note in the comments below or email me at enjoylivingabroad@gmail.com.My goal is to learn from my sisters in the Resistance. And to share the truth that sustains me in the work: We are not helpless. We are not alone. There are millions of us. We have plenty to say, and thanks to the Women’s March and the global Resistance movement, the world is listening. Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen, because we are just getting started. ​

This video is Episode 1 of my ongoing series Women of the American Resistance. You can view the complete series on YouTube, this blog, and American Resistance Sevilla; many episodes appear on Americans Resisting Overseas and other social media sites. Feel free to repost this video or link to this content. My goal is to tell the world about these remarkable American women and the work they're doing to help fix the mess we're in.

“The great value of travel is the opportunity it offers you to pry open your hometown blinders and broaden your perspective. And when we implement that world view as citizens of our great nation, we make travel a political act."Rick Steves

I'm an American writer living in Seville, Spain and traveling the world with my husband, Rich. I make frequent trips to the USA, especially my native California, because America is something you have to stay in practice for, and I don't want to lose my touch.